It's about 530am on Wednesday morning and the cold front is getting very close to Winter Park but snow has not started just yet.

On Wednesday morning as the cold front passes, expect temperatures to drop into the teens, winds to become strong, and snow to fall. We'll likely see 2-4 inches by the afternoon, but the big story will be the strong winds which could gust faster than 50mph and could impact lift operations.

On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, we'll see dry weather for a little while. Thursday's high temperature will be in the teens to low 20s. Also, there are rumors that some of Mary Jane will open on Thursday. Hope so!

Then from Thursday midday through Friday morning, another storm will bring snow. This storm won't be strong, but it could bring a sneaky-fun amount of snow by Friday morning with 1-4 inches of fluffy accumulation. The wind direction from the west is not a great factor, but a summit temperature around 10°F is favorable, so we have some things going for us. Friday's high temperature will be in the teens.

Looking ahead, Saturday, December 18, to Wednesday, December 22, will be mostly or completely dry with comfortable high temperatures in the 20s to low 30s.

Our next chance for snow will be around Thursday, December 23rd. I have high confidence that we'll see a storm around this date, but still low confidence about how much snow this storm will deliver. 

And even further into the future, at least one or two additional storms could arrive between about December 25-27. I have decent confidence that we'll see more snow around this time, but near zero confidence when it comes to the amount of snow.

Speaking of the amount of snow, we could use at least 1-2 feet of snow to open a significant chunk of additional terrain. With some luck, maybe (just maybe) the storms just before and around Christmas will deliver this.

Thanks for reading and please check back each morning for daily updates!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Wednesday morning

New snow mid-mountain:
* 0” (24 hours Tuesday 500am to Wednesday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Tuesday 400pm to Wednesday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 6” Thursday Night to Friday (Dec 9-10)

Terrain
* 7 of 21 lifts
* 18 of 166 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 74%

PS – Late this week, we are going to make some significant changes to OpenSnow. If you're an All-Access subscriber (thank you!), you'll see no changes. If you are not an All-Access subscriber, here is an FAQ with more details about the upcoming changes, and we hope that eventually, we'll earn your support.

Here is a 3-minute video that I made (with my son Levi) to introduce a few of the upcoming changes. Please watch the video to at least see what Levi has to say to everyone at the end (non of this was scripted/rehearsed and I'm surprised it worked out!). If you can't see the video embedded below, tap here.